Sometimes, medical emergencies require a person to be transported quickly to the nearest emergency room or hospital for immediate care. In the case of severe trauma during an accident, patients will be transported in an air ambulance, or life flighted , to the nearest hospital.
If you have experienced this unfortunate situation or know someone who has, then you may be well aware of the high costs of using a life flight. However, you may not know the reasons behind those thousands of dollars for using a helicopter rather than an ambulance to be rushed to an emergency room.
Or, you have never been life flighted and are curious as to how one works and what the cost might be if the situation ever arose (and hopefully it never does).
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What do life flights do?
The term “life flight” is much more common than the term “air ambulance,” however, both describe the same thing. The names are completely relevant in what it does; it is the transportation via flight of human life to nearby hospitals for emergency medical care.
Air ambulances are the winged aircraft or helicopters that are crucial in helping sick or injured patients be transported to places with the medical tools and personnel needed to save their life or care for them.
Essentially, in emergencies where a patient needs surgery as soon as possible or needs to be transferred to a not-so-nearby hospital, life flights will be called upon to fly the patient as quickly and safely to the desired location.
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What are the costs?
As with any medical cost, the stack of bills one might get after being life flighted can be pretty high. If you have insurance, your policy may be able to cover some of the cost, but rarely do they like to cover the whole thing. Without insurance, the cost runs in the thousands.
With Insurance
Sometimes the insurance policies do their job and can cover all or the majority of life flight costs, but this is not always the case and largely depends on what type of insurance policy you have.
Insurance companies will determine whether to pay by judging if the life flight was necessary and by how much mileage was covered (which factors into the overall price). The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a 2017 study that two-thirds of all air ambulance transports were out-of-network, meaning that insurance companies will likely only pay a very small portion of that if any at all.
It all depends on what type of insurance policy you have and what insurance company you have it with. Luckily, for those with federal insurance policies (i.e., Medicare or Medicaid), your provider can’t send you a balance bill. Balance bills are when you are life flighted out-of-network and your provider bills you the difference between what they paid and what has been charged by the air ambulance provider.
The GAO explains that if you were life flighted in-network, meaning to a place where your insurance can act on the contract between them and the air ambulance provider, then your insurance provider can either accept the payment in full or pay a portion of the cost, without the patient receiving any balance bills.
Without Insurance
Transportation via an air ambulance can cost thousands of dollars if you don’t have insurance, or even if you don’t have insurance that will pay the majority of the cost.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) estimates that the average cost for a life flight can run in the tens of thousands of dollars. They claim that the average price range for a life flight ran between $12,000 and $25,000.
The majority of the costs depends on many factors such as the distance the life flight covered, the medical staff on board the flight who provide care and comfort to the patient, the type of aircraft used (which depends on the patient’s needs), and any airport landing fees or chargers (if that is needed).
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When is it necessary to use a life flight?
The misuse of life flights has been more apparent now than in the past, with more people wanting their loved ones or themselves to be transported to different medical facilities for a variety of reasons.
However, the most obvious reason to use a life flight is when dangerous accidents or occurrences put the patient’s life in extreme danger and life or death situations.
Some of these incidents may include:
- Vehicle accidents (including ATVs and motorcycles)
- Patients who live in rural areas that need immediate medical treatment
- Victims trapped in disastrous events (e.g., floods, tornadoes, hurricanes)
- Trauma victims who suffer major bodily injuries
- The elderly who need medical attention and are unable to travel alone
- People who are stranded in remote locations
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How can my life flight cost be covered?
There are a few options that can help pay for life-flight bills or provide coverage in the future if there was ever a need to be life flighted .
Annual membership programs
If you don’t want to rely solely on insurance policies, then paying an annual membership fee to a flight coverage program may be something to consider. While they aren’t technically actual insurance policies, they can offer you some peace of mind and additional coverage if you were to ever need to be life flighted.
Most of these air ambulance memberships are located regionally, so you would need to find one in your area or region. Major air ambulance insurance providers are located in the Northwest, Southwest, Midwest, Southeast, Northeast, and even in the states of Hawaii and Alaska.
File a complaint or appeal your bill
Many families are fighting back against huge medical bills after needing a life flight. It is reasonable to file a complaint with your state’s insurance department if you are concerned or worried about the balance on your life flight bill.
You can also appeal the bills your insurance company mails to you. When you appeal, your insurance company may work with you on lowering the cost down by hundreds or even thousands.
Ask many questions and get as much information as you need about why your bill costs as much as it does and what your insurance company’s role in paying it is.
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The bottom line
Medical bills are super expensive and can rack up a ton of debt. Air ambulance bills can be one of those medical expenses that have you wondering how to pay thousands of dollars to these life flight providers. However, there are some ways for you to be covered for the most part, allowing you and your wallet some breathing room.
You can join an annual life flight membership program on top of having insurance. These membership fees can actually help you cover the rest of the cost that your insurance doesn’t cover if you ever need to be life flighted .
You can also appeal or file a complaint with your insurance company or your state’s insurance department, to decrease any medical bills.
Hopefully, the need for refuting air ambulance bills will never arise for you! But if it does, you’ll be equipped with some knowledge on what life flights are and how to stay covered.
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